What does the Bible Teach About Transgenderism? (Strachan & Peacock)

In this short book, Professor Owen Strachan and Pastor Gavin Peacock walk through a hot-button topic: transgenderism. They cover Biblical passages related to gender and identity, Biblical manhood and womanhood, and the new identity and life Christians have in Christ.

This book is straightforward and a helpful starting point on the topic for those interested in what the Bible says. The introduction itself is especially helpful, looking at modern philosophy/worldview with its emphasis on feelings and assumption that the human heart is good. As the Bible teaches otherwise, they start there before moving on to the title topic. There, the Biblical passages analyzed are primarily Genesis 1:26-28, Genesis 3, Deuteronomy 22:5, Matthew 19:3-6, and 1 Corinthians 11:3, 7-15. Stepping back from that, they then turn their attention to passages on Biblical manhoon and womanhood, concluding with a new identity we have.

While it make lots of good points, I felt the book strayed a bit from the original purpose in covering other (though related) areas. And the concluding FAQ was a bit hollow and didn't cover some of the more common questions Christians have.

Rating: B

Unmatched Adventures: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Today's review is of the 2025 release, Unmatched Adventures: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. For 1-4 players, it takes 20-40 minutes.

Overview

In this cooperative game, you and your friends are each a TMNT character with respective sidekicks, battling against the evil Shredder or Krang. Do you collectively have what it takes to prevail?

To setup the game, choose your hero. Choose a bad guy. Choose bad guy sidekicks equal to the number of players. Take all corresponding tokens, life counters, and decks (shuffling appropriately). Place all on the map of your choosing. Draw five cards and play begins.

This game is in the Unmatched line, and follows much of the same rules; I covered those in the previous post. Simplistically, on your turn, you will perform two actions as discussed last time: maneuver (draw a card and move), scheme, or attack. Turns continue until the good guys win . . . or bad guys prevail.

What is unique about this version:

1) Turn order. This is randomly chosen each round by shuffling the initiative cards (two for the main bad guy, one for each bad guy sidekick, and one for each player hero). Each player is given a marker denoting "player 1" or "player 2," etc. So a round could look something like this (in a three-player game against Shredder and three sidekicks: Bebop/Rocksteady, Leatherhead, and Rat King): Leatherhead, Shredder ability, player 2, Bebop/Rocksteady, player 1, player 3, Shredder, Rat King.

2) The enemies. Since this is cooperative, the game has a system to simulate the enemies. Each has a custom deck; each card in that has both an attack and defense value (and may have special abilities). The value you use depends on whether the character is attacking or defending. After use, each card is placed in its respective discard pile and (eventually) shuffled back into the main enemy deck (once the card stating that is played).

my two-player game in progress

Review
As with the competitive Unmatched line, this game is easy to learn and hard to master. You must manage your turn actions, character placement/movement, and hand of cards, with meaningful decisions in each sphere. The decks of cards are asymmetric, leading to a new experience with each hero you try (and each unique matchup). The turn order system is well done (if occasionally maddening when it doesn't go your way). The challenge level is high; we have yet to win. But the game moves swiftly either way.

Being fully compatible with other Unmatched releases, you could use other characters to play in this adventure. (I'm tempted to see how Dracula fares against Shredder). 

Overall, I enjoyed the game, think it is well done, and recommend it.

Rating: A

Unmatched: Cobble & Fog

Today's review is of the 2020 release, Unmatched: Cobble & Fog. For 2-4 players, it takes 20-40 minutes.

Overview

You are a character of legend taking on another.* Reduce their health to zero first and you win!

Unmatched is a series of games with the same mechanics. In each, you set up the game by choosing a map. Then choose a hero, taking their corresponding minifigure, tokens (if any), health dial(s), and unique deck of 30 cards, shuffling them and drawing five. Your opponent does the same. You place your minifigures and token(s) on the map in the stated areas and play begins, with the youngest player starting. In Cobble & Fog, your hero choices are Invisible Man, Jekyl & Hyde, Dracula, or Sherlock Holmes.

Game board showing Dracula vs. Sherlock Holmes at start

On your turn, you take two actions (you  may choose the same more than once) of the three available:

Three additions to the turn explanation in the above image:

- your "fighters" are your hero and their sidekick(s), if any.

- all cards have a hero, sidekick, or "ANY" printed on them; they must be used in accordance with the printed options

- maneuver action: most cards have a BOOST value encircled on the right-hand side of the card; it is that number you can add to your fighter(s) move.

- attack action: if you choose to attack, your opponent can play a defense card (a purple versatile card or blue defense card) face down in response. Cards are turned face up simultaneously, with the higher value winning (defense wins ties), and damage done to the defender if the attack value > defense value. 

Turns continue until one player's hero is reduced to zero health.

Review

This game is easy to learn and hard to master. You must manage your turn actions, character placement/movement, and hand of cards, with meaningful decisions in each sphere. The decks of cards are asymmetric, leading to a new experience with each hero you try (and each unique matchup). The Unmatched series has seen many releases, and all are fully compatible with the others, expanding the possibilities. Overall, recommended.

Rating: A

*the game has a multiplayer mode, but I will describe the two-player version.

Created to Play (Brianna Lambert)

"What if your hobbies weren't arbitrary passions at all but the purposeful design of the God who formed every part of you?" So posits Brianna Lambert in the introduction to Created to Play. If the Lord is God over every sphere of our lives, and we are created to glorify and enjoy Him forever, then our hobbies are one means through which we can grow, enjoy, and worship. 

This book explores "ten different titles we take on in our play," each of which "take their place within a larger picture of what it means to be an image-bearer of God." They are, separated into four overarching categories:

• Fill the earth:
• Makers (artists, crafters, writers, musicians, etc.)
• Heralds (musicians, photographers, storytellers, reviewers, etc.)
• Nourishers (cooks, bakers, brewers, etc.)
• Tend what's been given:
• Movers (athletes)
• Keepers (gardeners, farmers, pet lovers, etc.)
• Gather and renew:
• Curators (collectors)
• Restorers (renovators, mechanics, cleaners, organizers)
• Connectors (game players, sports fans, etc.)
• Receive:
• Historians (history buffs, reenactors, scrapbookers, etc.)
• Beholders (tourists, foodies, bookworms, film buffs, bird watchers, etc.)

For each of these ten, she presents examples, a deep joy, and a key temptation. She also discusses the benefit (need?) for each to be done in community.

I enjoyed this book; the author makes great points about the benefits hobbies can have without them needing to have some obvious utility (becoming a side hustle, yet another goal, etc.); it is okay to enjoy the good gifts God gives us (and in that enjoyment, we can worship and grow).

I'll mention two reservations:

- each chapter was replete with examples—too many of them, in my opinion. I think she did this so  people could see their own hobbies in the pages, but it made the book a third longer than it needed to be. 

- she presents each category in its noblest form, with too little discussion of the potential pitfalls in each. It was wonderful to see how a given hobby could be used for good, but more warnings may be warranted.

Overall, the book is valuable and recommended. It is okay to play and delight in a hobby.

Rating: B

DC Super Heroes United: Batman Hush

Today's review is of the 2025 release, DC Super Heroes United: Batman Hush. For 1-5 players, it takes 30 minutes.

Overview

In this cooperative game, you and your friends each take a role of a hero and work together to defeat a villain. You'll have to act fast, though . . . once the master plan deck runs out, you lose! Do you have what it takes?

This game is in the Marvel United line and follows identical rules. Setup is simple: 

- lay out six locations in a circle and put the thugs/civilian tokens on each as indicated

- choose a villain and put their corresponding cards at each location and shuffle/ready their master plan deck

- each player chooses a hero and takes their figure and corresponding deck of 12 cards, shuffling and drawing three.

- the villain and hero figures are place on locations opposite each other and play begins

game in progress; image from here

Gameplay is also straightforward.

- The villain always goes first: draw the top card of their master plan deck and place it face up in the story line (a circle that goes around the outside of the play area; it is omitted from the image above). Do what it states (generally moving the villain, potentially activating its special ability, and placing thugs or civilians on the spots indicated). Then each hero goes in clockwise order. 

- On each hero turn, the player draws a card, plays one in the story line, then uses the abilities on it and the immediately-preceding hero card (from the hero played the turn prior). Abilities are move, star, punch, and wild, and enable the players to complete missions (by rescuing civilians, beating thugs, or completing the stated goal of the villain card at their location). 

- After 2-3 hero turns (depending on if the villain is 'under pressure' or not), the villain goes again. Play continues in this fashion until the game end.

- Once enough missions have been completed, the villain can be damaged (through punches). Drop their health to zero before the master plan deck is empty and you win! Otherwise . . . game over.

Review

Five years ago, my family was introduced to Marvel United. We greatly enjoy that (and its many expansions), and were delighted to hear that they released a DC equivalent. Playing this new version was as good as expected—the same great mechanics, flavor, and tension (it seems games always come down to the very last card, or near enough, of the master plan deck). Another winner in this line.

Rating: A

AI Simplified

AI Simplified (previously published as Simply AI, shown above), is a primer on Artificial Intelligence. It covers:

- History of AI

- Classical AI

- Statistical AI

- Using AI

- Philosophy of AI

- Living with AI

As a primer, it skims the surface of many topics within this arena. It is short (155 pages with large text), and highly visual (there is a graphic on each page).

AI is obviously a hot topic, and I wanted to learn more. Two key takeaways for me:

• "Machine-learning networks are only as good as the data on which they are trained." That means that incorrect, incomplete, or biased data will create predictable problematic outputs. And "hidden behind many of today's most powerful AIs is a vast amount of human labor. Millions of workers are used to train AIs"—workers that are faulty (and may be poorly compensated). And generative AI "relies on data scraped from the internet," which creates a few problems (including consent from and compensation for the creators).
• As AI is increasingly incorporated into many functions and can be 'agentic' (acting on behalf of a human or institution), lots of questions arise, including responsibility (who is responsible if AI does something that harms?) and ethics ("the only way to ensure that AIs think ethically is to program them with ethical principles, although then the question becomes whose ethics?").

DK Publishing does a good job with overviews, and this is no exception. This book provides helpful definitions, history, basic concepts, and more related to AI. Recommended for those who want to understand the radical transformation going on in the world around us (with much more to come).

Rating: A

The Spiritually Healthy Leader (Dave Wiedis)

"Ministry leaders don't usually implode from outside pressure but rather . . . they are incapacitated from within." 

The premise of The Spiritually Healthy Leader is "that we are designed by God to be driven by a 'ruling passion' to live wholeheartedly coram Deo, before the face of God." And when our ruling passions are wrong, things go bad. So "this book offers powerful strategies to help identify and understand how, when left unexamined, our ruling passions can serve as functional idols, permeate every aspect of our being, and have the potential to sabotage our relationships, ministry, and life." And it shows how to bring those passions "under Christ's lordship to experience a radical, grace-filled transformation of our lives." Select thoughts follow.

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"Our spiritual health is measured by the object of our love which, in turn, is revealed by our ruling passions." "A ruling passion is an extraordinarily strong desire that rules or controls us such that our energy is given over to pursuing and achieving this goal." Such "passions are core motivations of the heart that have their genesis in experiences and take the form of vows" (which are "decisions to live a certain way") and are revealed by our behavior. 

Passions are not inherently bad. Many passions are good things (peace, happiness, pleasure, success, etc.), but when we make them the ultimate thing (placing them above loving and obeying God), they become a ruling passion and are wrong. 

Jesus tells us that nobody can serve two masters (Matthew 6:24). "Either God is the center of your life, with your ultimate commitment to experience the satisfying supremacy of Christ and walk under his lordship, or something or someone else will be at the center." And "unless we are fully submitted to and under the control of God, we will be under the control of something else."

We often don't know our ruling passions. To discover them, we must determine our motivations and longings. And don't be surprised that we may not know those either—"many of us functionally live according to our ultimate commitments without having verbalized them." But "unless we understand and change our vows, we will be ruled by them." We must identify, confess, and ask God to redeem our ruling passions.

We need our ruling passion to be "the supremacy of Christ and intimacy with Jesus." What about our other passions? We should recognize that our longings for other things are (or can be) legitimate, but they must "be subordinated to the ultimate goal of loving and obeying God—in whatever circumstances he allows and calls us to live." When our desires are not rightly ordered, our obedience to Christ is conditional upon having our main longing fulfilled, and that ends in disaster (for yourself and those around you).

How can we make Christ our ruling passion? We need transformation. "Transformation involves renewing our minds, and an essential element of this renewal is knowing and walking in the truth." When our ruling passion is something other than Christ, we need to "(1) identify our false beliefs and comprehend why they are false, and (2) replace false beliefs with the truth."

Transformation is hard; we need to be fully aware of our own weakness. Indeed, "we are often interested in transformation, but sometimes ironically find ourselves resisting the very change we long for or the ways God uses to change us." There is not one righteous (see Romans 3:9-18). So to prepare our heart for transformation, we need to pray, pursue the truth, reflect on the motives of our heart, observe and ask about our impact, resist our resistance, and be prepared for spiritual warfare. 

As we pursue transformation, we will be sanctified, where through obedience we slowly grow and become more like Christ. "The process of sanctification is a deep work of God in our hearts that takes time, honesty, a commitment to change, deep reflection, patience, and prayer. It does involve suffering, but it is suffering that leads to maturity (James 2:1-5)." It is hard—but worth it, for nothing is better than having Christ as your ruling passion.

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This fantastic book was humbling, convicting, and encouraging. In addition to the main concepts above, the author provides plenty of questions and some worksheets to help diagnose your own ruling passions. I learned a lot about myself and my core longings. Addressing my problems at the root—and learning to tell myself the truth and subordinate legitimate desires under the ultimate ruling passion of Christ—has been extremely helpful to me. (Note that I'm a work in progress . . . I'm not there yet. My ruling passions oscillate . . . the work is hard. As my pastor says, we can't model righteousness, but we can model repentance. May we not forsake the happy road that leads to His right hand.*) 

Don't be fooled by the title; this book would be more appropriately named The Spiritually Healthy Christian. This is a must-read for all.

Rating: A

*a lyric from Laden with Guilt by Caedmon's Call. Beautiful song. Check it out.